Sunday, January 08, 2006

Looking back on Bombay and Callas

These past days have been a mixture of happiness and sadness for me - happy that Bombay and Callas and the other three kittens have found good families to love and care for them, sad that they are no longer with me.

But such is the work of a foster.

I can't help myself taking trips down memory lane... remembering what it was like when they first arrived from the vet's... all tiny, fragile and so vulnerable. Today, they are all strong, strutting teenage cats. They certainly have come far.

Let me take you on a journey with me... one that began five months ago... with playful Bombay and the observant Callas.

This is the five darlings during their first week with me. They were only 3-weeks-old then. They were so small, each one could fit comfortably into the palm of my hand. And I have extremely small hands!

Bombay and Callas are the two kittens snuggling each other on the left. On the bottom right is Jack (now known as Jackie). You can see quite clearly that her left eye is scratched and infected. On the top right is Draco (now known as Gucci).

Bombay was always an energetic kitty who loved to be cuddled and stroked to sleep. Actually, all the kittens had this ritual where, immediately after meals, they would run to me (and any other warm body available) and fall right to sleep on the lap or anywhere else on the legs. The Flyer and I have suffered crippling cramps from not being able to move after the kittens have thrown themselves on us.

Bombay was also the most playful of the litter. He's always up for a game of catch or tug, even a WWF wrestling match.

The kittens were very popular from the moment they arrived at my house. There was always a line of people outside wanting to visit the kittens, to play with them, to cuddle them. They had a quite number of visits from famous names too. Here's a couple of photos with Sanjeev, the lead singer and guitarist of international rock band, The Suns.

Sanjeev was so impressed with the kittens, he and the three blackies formed their own rock band called The Slashers.

With each day, the kittens grew larger and stronger. That's the thing with kittens. How do they grow so quickly? Very often after tucking them into bed at night, I would get up in the morning and as I make breakfast for them, I would gasp at how much they had grown OVERNIGHT! Truly unbelievable.

The other unbelievable thing is just the way the kittens sleep -- how they can fall asleep just about anywhere.

Look at Callas all knocked out on a bag of Catsan litter!

This is Callas, looking more like a furry hand-puppet, has zonked out on a clean, crispy pillow case fresh from the dryer.

However interesting or poor company is, Callas can never stay awake long enough to find out which it is.

Bombay is the king of awkward sleeping positions. Here's one that started out real cute.

Then Bombay began to droop ever so slightly.

Then the curve became more pronouced. Losing balance and starting to slide off The Flyer's leg, you'd think all his kitty instincts would make him leap up from sleep, right? Wrong!

The Flyer had to grab on tight to Bombay's body to prevent him from toppling right off. Good thing he was just a tiny thing back then.

And the kittens grew and grew and then grew some more. Callas soon became more athletic, but he always retained his cool composure, prefering to stare and observe. Of course, when he wasn't observing, he'd be singing in sweet, high, melodious mews.

So this was Callas back then...

And here he is now... a beautiful, glossy black cat.

And here are pictures of Bombay back then...

And here is Bombay now.

But however much they grew, however big they got, they never stopped being loving, affectionate cats.

Here is Callas staring up at me like he always does.

And here is Bombay wanting to be dipped.

And I admit, I often let them walk all over me.

There were so many interesting turns of events in their lives. Here are some of them. This here is the kittens' very first adoption drive. This was held at Bishan Park.

At the drive, a Chinese news team was there to cover the event. The reporter wanted a cat or kitten to hold while she closed the segment and Callas was picked to go on TV.

This here was the drive at Ngee Ann City, the kittens' second adoption drive. It was here that they met a young couple who promptly fell in love with them. The young couple is now their new loving owners.

Sometimes the kittens caused us painful injuries...

Other times, they scared me half to death with the injuries they inflicted on themselves. The recent and most shocking one was Bombay's accident in the cage.

There were also times when the kittens fell sick, like when Diva (now known as Cloey) came down with the flu and Bombay had the fever.

I hope Bombay and Callas will remain together always. They really are super close brothers. When I tried adopting Bombay out alone, Callas was not able to cope well at all. Here are some shots of the two brothers together.

This is one of my favourites where Callas has his arm curled around Bombay. Everyone who walked past their cage were oohing and aahing at the sight of the loving brothers.

And this is the way I will remember them best of all -- two tiny things who would fall asleep on me at the drop of a hat.